–President Ali says Guyana facing serious challenge as cardiovascular disease accounts for 70% of country’s national disease burden
– calls for bold, collaborative, sustained action

WITH cardiovascular diseases accounting for 70 per cent of Guyana’s national disease burden, cardiology care here has been given a boost with a US$1 million donation from the Subraj Family Foundation in partnership with Northwell Health.

The landmark philanthropic gift from the George Subraj family foundation amounts to approximately GYD $209 million and is set to improve cardiac care in both Guyana’s public sector and in Richmond Hill, Queens, the home of the largest Guyanese community in the United States.

This investment which was made through Northwell Health’s Centre for Global Health, aims to address the rising burden of heart diseases in Caribbean and South Asian communities by advancing clinical training, medical research and community-based health outreaches.

While speaking at the launch of the cross-border partnership dubbed the Guyana Global Cardiology Initiative, President, Dr Irfaan Ali noted that the collaboration is another step that is being taken in Guyana’s journey to better health.

Against this backdrop, he indicated that when it comes to cardiovascular diseases, Guyana is in crisis, and as such, it must be treated as a national emergency.

Giving some statistics, Dr Ali noted that cardiovascular diseases which include heart attack, stroke and health failure are the leading causes of death in the Americas.

In 2017 alone, an estimated two million people died from cardiovascular diseases in the Americas, with 30 per cent of those deaths occurring in persons 70 years and under.

He highlighted that here in Guyana, the situation is more sobering.

“Cardiovascular disease account for at least 70 per cent of our national disease burden… that means seven out of every 10 people living with a serious illness in Guyana are battling cardiovascular-related conditions.”

To this end, he disclosed that this is the leading cause of death in Guyana with the rates here being among the highest in the Americas.

Dr Ali noted that if authorities are serious about guaranteeing better health outcomes for Guyanese citizens, this must be tackled head-on with bold, collaborative and sustained action.

The partnership between Northwell Health and the Subraj Family Foundation, President Ali said, represents exactly the kind of collaborative effort needed to turn the tide.

He stated that Northwell brings to the table world-class expertise, cutting-edge cardiac technologies and a strong record of compassionate high-quality care, while the Subraj Family Foundation brings a deep and enduring commitment to Guyana, backed by philanthropic work that has changed lives here already.

“Together we are working to enhance cardiac services in Guyana, this isn’t a donation it is a long-term investment in people’s health,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony in his remarks, stated that steps have been taken over the years to improve cardiology care with the implementation of programmes such as the paediatric cardiac programme.

While a lot of the care has been centred at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, he noted that the aim is to decentralise services and provide access to this type of care across all regions.

With the building out of new and modern facilities in various regions, Dr Anthony stated that the country is pushing its way to facilitate this decentralisation to ensure that these services reach persons where they live.

He said that with this partnership, Guyana will be able to send doctors to Northwell to acquire skills and work with the latest advanced technologies and return to implement these techniques here.

“What we want to do is to expand the amount of training that we can do and so it’s very timely and with all these plans that we have working over the next couple of years, training people, upskilling people… so that we can decentralise these services,” he said.

Also addressing the launch was Tony Subraj, board member of the Subraj Family Foundation, who indicated that this partnership will provide training for Guyanese physicians in cardiology specialties in the United States who will return home with the skills.

Additionally, it will also provide health outreaches in rural areas, providing screening and care.

Subraj said the foundation prioritises building communities by investing in health and education among other things in Guyana and in New York.